WITH Eurovision fever taking over this weekend, actress Sally Lindsay will be waving the flags as she prepares for her very own starring role. Sally, who is best known for playing barmaid Shelley Unwin in Coronation Street, is currently touring the UK in the stage show Eurobeat Almost Eurovision, which aims to offer all the fun and excitement of the real contest.

Rolling into Birmingham and Wolverhampton in June, the show offers flag-waving audience members the chance to watch ten acts and then decide on the winner - with their votes determining the evening.

And at the centre of it are Sally Lindsay and Les Dennis playing the Sarajevan hosts, determined to make the most of Bosnia's moment in the European spotlight.

It is a real change for Sally, who has also featured in Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights and The Royle Family, and she could not resist the temptation.

"I was given the script just before Christmas and I sat in a cafe reading it and it was so funny I was crying with laughter. I really wanted to do it," says Sally. "The show is such great fun and the audience really get into it."

The show, which also features an 'appearance' from Terry Wogan, works precisely because it sends up Eurovision so well, says Sally.

"I play Boyka who is hosting the show in Sarajevo and she is famous because she was a champion pole-vaulter. Well, she was at the Moscow Olympics but she actually wasn't very good. But that is her one claim to fame and she has managed to build an entire fame business out of that.

"She doesn't like Sergei, the other host, because he is just a children's television presenter. They believe their role is to make their country look as good as possible to everyone else. You know what it is like, the Europeans take the contest so seriously. They really think their musicians are battling for their national pride."

But despite Sally's tongue-in-cheek references to Eurovision, she admits it will be difficult to resist it this weekend.

"There is just something so special about it," she laughs. "The band that always sticks out in my mind was those two women, Bobbysocks, do you remember? It was like watching your mum and your auntie after they had had a couple of drinks."

Sally, whose karaoke favourite is Wham!'s Last Christmas, is also given the opportunity to display her vocal talents in the show - but she is not expecting to be chosen as the UK entry any time soon.

"I get to do a musical number dressed as a turnip," she says. "It is because the turnip is the national symbol of Sarajevo. Need I say more?"

* Ticket info

Join the Eurovision party at Birmingham Hippodrome on June 9-14 (www.birminghamhippodrome.com, 0844 338 5000) and Wolverhampton Grand on June 16-21 (wwwgrandtheatre.co.uk, 01902 429212)